The South Africa-based Standard Bank, one of the prominent banks in Africa, is looking for opportunities to finance investment projects in Ethiopia.

Jaz Vanmali, head of construction and cement, corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank told The Reporter that Standard Bank has concluded an agreement with a local agent in Ethiopia.

“At the moment we are not financing any investment project in Ethiopia. We have not been approached,” Vanmali said. Nonetheless, she said Standard Bank has indirectly financed investment projects in Ethiopia.

“We work with development banks like the International Finance Corporation (IFC)–the investment arm of the World Bank Group–and the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) bank in terms of supporting investment project financing. We are now looking at financing opportunities Ethiopia. We cannot directly finance investment projects in Ethiopia. At this point we do not have a balance sheet in Ethiopia,” Vanmali said.
She noted that Standard Bank does not have liquidity in Ethiopia. Nonetheless, she said it could finance investment projects in Ethiopia from South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania where it does have liquidity.

Vanmali was here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to participate at the 7th Africa Cement Trade Summit held from April 14-15, 2015 at the Sheraton Addis.

Standard Bank operates in 32 countries worldwide, 19 in Africa. Currently the bank has a market capitalization of USD 22 billion and assets worth USD 160 billion. It extends services to customers on personal banking, investment banking, liquidity management and property management.

Source: The Reporter